EU says African force only way to stop South Sudan killing

(William Davison)

An East African force charged with preventing fresh fighting in South Sudan could have its first troops in the country in a month, the European Union’s regional envoy said.

The United Nations Security Council in two weeks may consider approving “several battalions” of troops from neighboring countries to protect cease-fire monitors and deter government and rebel forces from staging assaults, EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa Alexander Rondos said in an interview yesterday. The deployment of Ethiopian soldiers may take a further two weeks, he said in that country’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Fighting erupted in South Sudan on Dec. 15 with President Salva Kiir accusing his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup, a charge he denies. The conflict has in some places pitted Kiir’s ethnic Dinka community against those belonging to Machar’s Nuer group. Thousands have been killed and more than a million have fled their homes, according to the United Nations.

“There is a general consensus now that the only way violence can be stopped is with the intervention of a force under a UN mandate that is robust enough to not just keep combatants separated but to genuinely deter people with intent to fight,” Rondos said.

U.S Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday that if violence continues in the world’s newest nation it would raise concerns about the possibility of genocide. The U.S. has prepared sanctions against South Sudanese individuals. Regional powers are considering their own punitive measures, Kerry told reporters in Addis Ababa, before traveling to South Sudan today.

‘Settle Differences’

Kiir and Machar should meet to settle their differences and order an end to the violence, Rondos said. Evidence including recent massacres in the state capitals of Bor and Bentiu suggest sectarian killing may continue even if an agreement is reached, he said.

“The really scary thing at the moment is, has it acquired a momentum that’s now beyond the reach of a political solution?” Rondos said. “If it’s tipped to that point then that is where you begin to have ingredients of a civil war whose effects can be genocidal.”

The current UN mission in South Sudan has a mandate to protect civilians in the country with as many as 12,500 military personnel, according to its website.

Talks mediated by a group of eight East African nations have restarted in Ethiopia’s capital. Discussions over how to implement a Jan. 23 truce are being held up by rebel demands that Ugandan troops end their support for South Sudanese government forces, according to Rondos. Uganda has told mediators it will exit when a regional force replaces it, he said.

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*Originally published on Bloomberg, on May 2, 2014, titled “EU Says African Force Only Way to Stop South Sudan Killing”